Now, I don't ever want to be accused of never mentioning any other UConn player but Maya Moore.

Moore or less, you'd have to admit that she's a pretty compelling player. Doug Bruno, the DePaul coach who mentored Moore on the U-18 and U-19 national teams, called her John Havlicek. Now I know why. And she even makes her layups, which is something even the greatest women's players in the world often struggle with.

There's no great secret about what makes Maya special. It's the same strategy Christmas shoppers will be using the morning after Thanksgiving when the doors open at 6 a.m - you run as fast as you can, get into the best position on the floor and wait until what you want is placed in your hands.

"When we run," Maya says, "I think we are at our best."

But what makes Maya even more cool - and remember, we are talking about a freshman just two games into her career - is that she plays with as much intensity on defense and she actually likes to rebound.

"Her work ethic is reflected in her game," Renee Montgomery said.

Moore to come, we can only hope.

During her press conference in Winter Haven, Fla., yesterday to announce her signing with UConn, forward Tiffany Hayes said she will wear No. 3 - Diana Taurasi's number. Good luck living up to that, Tiff. There's a reason Babe Ruth was the only Yankee to wear No. 3, you know.

I'd advise Tiffany check in with DT in Russia to make sure its OK. That's the way they do things at UConn. Kalana Greene couldn't wear 32 when she arrived from South Carolina until Swin Cash said it was OK. And Kalana decided to wear that because Barbara Turner already had 33 on her back. And the reason Maya wears 23 and Heather Buck will be wearing something other than 32 (her personal favorite) is because Kalana isn't ready to give it up.

By the way, I loved Bill Gibbons comment about losing Heather Buck to "the Evil Empire." He was kidding, of course. He and Geno get along very well.

Kelsey Bone, the junior center from Sugar Land, Texas, considered to be the top high school prospect in the Class of 2009, is off to a 3-0 start with her high school team. Kelsey was at the senior national team's exhibition game Sunday night against Texas A&M. Her family is beginning to formulate plans for unofficial visits in the spring and one will definitely be to UConn.

Geno and Kathy Auriemma were on "Better Connecticut" Thursday morning on WFSB-3. He was late, of course. He wandered into the studio just as the show was going on the air. His beatwriters are used to this behavior, but he never brings macaroni along with him when he comes.

This time, Geno was pushing his tomato sauce, which will soon be available in more places than his restaurant at Mohegan Sun. It's derived from his mother's personal recipe. She used to jar 600 bottles every August using tomatoes she brought back to Pennsylvania from faraway lands - like New Jersey.

"She'd make the sauce in our garage, by hand, the same way she's been making it since 1941 when she was 10," Geno said.

Kathy made some crostini - that's Italian for bread with delicious spices and olive oil imbeded - and penne with Geno's tomato-basil sauce. It looked good, but even for someone like me, who would eat macaroni every day, it was a little too early to get excited about it - although I know it's 5 p.m. somewhere in the world right now.

"in the next couple of weeks its going to start appearing in different places, beginning with a show we're going to have at Stew Leonard's and then we'll expand from there. And then you'll be able to order it on line," Geno said.

Geno also discussed the start of his new cancer initiative which begins with the introduction of his website today - www.genoscancerteam.com.

"Anyone can get involved in helping us raise money," Geno said. "It's part of the Jimmy V. Foundation and all of the money we raise goes to research. November 27th is opening day for us. You can sign up [to help] on the website."

Hey Tammy Arnold and Shea Matlock, we haven't forgotten that you both wore 3, too.

John

By the way, if you've already bought Geno a tie for Christmas, I'd bring it back. His consectutive-game tieless streak is four. I'd buy him something orange.

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5 Comments

I enjoy your blogs, and I imagine that Maya will continue to get outsized coverage until she stops being cosmic.
I note that the Yankees have retired 16 numbers and it has been suggested they may have to get into 3 digits eventually. I know the reason collegiate basketball players can have no digits past 5 (which limits players to 55 possible numbers) but how come NBA players can use any digits? Are the NBA refs better at math? Are they using three hands for signaling? Hmmm?

Love it that you mention each and every UConn player--they all need to get some press coverage.
I'd like to see something on Cassie Kerns. She has such great potential--but like many previous Uconn players, she's just a nice lady. But as and Indiana resident she must have basketball imbedded in her heart--they all do.

When Uconn can't score, in comes Maya and 7 points go on the board immediately. Stanford, with their teriffic big girls and MS Wiggins will be a test for Maya and her band of South Seas Pirates. Maya will be the focus of Stanfords diaper dandy big girl (appologies to Dickie and ESPN). It will be a good test and a great game--did you see the Stanford/Rutgers game-now that was basketball.

It will be interesting to see how Geno and his staff handle the challenge of adding such a powerful presence to the roster, in Maya Moore. When Diana came to town, there was in place a team that even she could not dominate right away. The current team has not won a national championship or been to the Final Four and has less star power that that earlier group. But now there is a real danger, I would think, of other players feeling that the locus has shifted to a newbie, and not quite understanding how it affects their own roles. Even if Maya continues to be great, she will have off games, get into foul trouble, be doubled and triple teamed--and she could always get hurt, God forbid. Anyway, nice problem to have, but every opportunity has its challenges!

To answer the poster above, the numbers are limited to 5 because that's the number of fingers on each hand. When the ref calls a foul and comes to the scorers table to make it official he shows the number of the offending player with his or her fingers. Given our limitations as humans, the maximum nunber they can show is 55. As far as the NBA is concerend, I'm not sure. I can't watch the NBA, it isn't basketball.

When we had a decent fan forum here for the women - several people who had seen Maya play in HS were saying she could be the best to ever come to UCONN. Considering all the players who had already been UCONN Huskies - that was either over stating her skills or good news for the rest of us who had only read her press clippings. Now that I've seen her play in a few games - I'm ready to admit that she is something special. I'm not ready to say she's better than DT - but she is better than any other freshman in the country and if she stays healthy for 4 years will be the bane for all UCONN opponents for the next 4 year.